GRANBY – Residents of Granby are puzzling over how a proposal to raise property taxes to build a new junior-senior high school could be voted down at a special Town Meeting two weeks ago – and then rise from the dead.

As it turns out, the question will appear on the ballot of the statewide election on Nov. 2, and, if it passes, residents can petition for another Town Meeting to vote on it again.

But the next day the Friends of the School Building Committee, who have labored long and hard to get a new school, got to work making calls and sending postcards to get the support they needed.

Not everyone was elated by the reprieve. Michael Ribeiro, an opponent of the measure, said some people were angry when they realized the measure they had voted down was still alive.

“I assumed the question was dead,” said Patricia Shandri, who also voted against the measure. “The people I’ve talked to are concerned and upset about it.”

What troubles opponents like her is that to pass Town Meeting, a measure needs a two-thirds majority. To win at the polls, the bar is lower – only 50 percent plus one vote to win.

The school building question has been a volatile one in Granby, with some arguing that the current school building is operating with undersized classrooms and outdated heating and ventilation systems, among other problems.

They fear that the school’s accreditation is in danger.

Others argue that the proposed tax increase would force some residents to give up their homes and would make it impossible to address problems with other public buildings in town.

In fact, the town’s own Finance Committee recommended that residents vote against the proposal as it exists now. Property taxes would increase by about 14 percent, and would remain at that level until the proposed $45 million school building was paid off.

Many people didn’t realize that the question would get a second chance on Nov. 2, says Pam Desjardins, a supporter of the measure.

Even the experts were caught up in the misunderstanding.

“Some of us here at the government level thought the question was going to be null and void after it was voted down (at Town Meeting),” said Town Clerk Kathy Kelly-Regan.

When the question was sent to Boston last summer to be printed on the Nov. 2 ballot, the assumption was that voters could just ignore it if Town Meeting had voted it down.

Not so. “Once on the ballot, parliamentary procedure is that you can’t change the ballot question,” said Lisa Petraglia, an opponent of the measure.

As confusion spread and the issue was brought to her attention, Kelly-Regan turned to the town’s attorney, Ed Ryan, for clarification, and posted a public notice on the matter.

Ryan confirmed that if the question passes on Nov. 2, “there is nothing to preclude the town from calling another Special Town Meeting to revisit the funding authorization for the project.”

To Kelly-Regan, the most important thing now is that people get to the polls on Nov. 2. The school building tax will be Question 4.